GAS PRICES: what to know this traveling season

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TRI-CITIES, YAKIMA - If you've noticed a dent in your wallet lately, it's likely coming from a recent spike in gas prices. Costs have surged by a dime in the last week alone. All while many of you are planning to hit the road for Memorial Day weekend.

It's just a matter of minutes, and already you're stuck with a steep bill.

“It’s just ridiculous. The gas prices keep going up and up,” said local driver Gerardo Trujillo.

For drivers like Gerardo Trujillo, pain at the pump means a squeeze on the travel budget.

For regular on Saturday, the average price in the Tri-Cities costs $3.79 a gallon. Over in Yakima, it's climbed to 3.80. Experts blame the recent spike on refinery maintenance and outages. They say varying speculation on summer gasoline makes matters worse.

AAA reports Washington comes in sixth in top ten for most expensive state averages for gasoline. Oregon? Even higher, coming in at number five.

You can find the cheapest gas in the Tri-Cities at Costco for Fred Meyer for $3.66. Costco comes up second at $3.67. Over in Yakima, Conoco takes the number one spot, followed by Fred Meyer and Albertsons.

For those planning a road-trip next weekend, keep in mind: at 25 miles per gallon, a trip from the Tri-Cities to the westside both ways will cost you about 65 bucks. Up to Spokane, a little over $40.

Yakima reports similar digits, just swappping destinations. To Spokane, a round-trip trip will cost over 60 dollars both ways. Over to Seattle, you'll pay up about 40.

It's a pain to plan for these travel-heavy weeks.

To put all this in perspective, this time last year, Triple-A reports gas prices were falling for 82 out of 87 days. But this time around, they've gone up every day for more than a week.